My Genealogy Hound

ROBERT BUSHBY, traveling passenger agent for the Grand Trunk Railway System, whose portrait is shown on the opposite page, is one of the leading and most enterprising citizens of Cortland. Since becoming a resident of the village, his interest in its welfare and prosperity has never flagged, and has led him to associate himself with the first business men of the place in planning and executing projects that have had for their object the upbuilding and improving of the village. In his own particular field of work he is well known in railroad circles as a most energetic traveling passenger agent.

Mr. Bushby was born in Pawtucket, R. I., in 1843, and was a son of Joseph Bushby, who was born in Cumberland, England, and who came from Rhode Island, in 1854, into the northwest part of the town of Truxton, Cortland County, where he purchased a farm. By trade he was a bleacher and dyer, and was very skilled in his line of employment; some specimens of his handiwork took a first premium at the Crystal Palace Exposition in New York City. His desire to rear his children in the country was responsible for his removal to the farm in Truxton township. The attractions of his old trade, though dormant for awhile, again reasserted themselves, and becoming uneasy, he sold the farm, returned to Pawtucket, and again followed his trade until he retired entirely from active life. He was born in 1818, and died at the age of seventy-four. His wife, Ann Patterson, who was born in Carlisle, Eng., died in July, 1865, aged forty-two years. The following children were born to our subject’s parents: Robert, our subject; Joseph of Joplin, Mo.; Mary A., the wife of Charles A. Bates of Homer; Elizabeth E., who married Christopher Westmoreland, now deceased, of Syracuse, N. Y.; and Charles N.

Our subject, the eldest of the family, followed farming on the homestead in Truxton township until August 15, 1862, on which date he enlisted as a private in Co. D, 157th Reg. N. Y. Vol. Inf., and served three years to a day; he was detailed as regimental bugler to General Ames. He is now a prominent member of the local G. A. R. Post of Cortland. After he had returned from the front, and had followed farming a short time, he went to clerking in Truxton for W. S. Maycumber. After two years in this connection, he was elected, in 1875, county treasurer, and held the office for nine years from January 1, 1876. In 1878 he moved to Cortland, and had charge of the books of the L. D. Garrison wholesale grocery and candy factory for five years, his connection with the establishment being terminated by his own resignation because of ill health. In 1882 he was appointed city ticket agent, for the D., L. & W. R. R., the N. Y. Central and West Shore R. R., and Erie R. R., and continued to discharge the duties of that position with fidelity and dispatch until the fall of 1886, when he was appointed agent for the U. S. Express Co. at Cortland. Five years mark the time he was associated with this company, during which period he was sent to Washington, D. C., as assistant to Supt. Platt. He resigned this position to accept, March 15, 1891, the office of traveling passenger agent of the Grand Trunk Railway System. He has given entire satisfaction, and because of the confidence he has inspired by his excellent services in behalf of the company, he is given wide latitude in matters of discretion and opinion. He is a very valuable servant, and is peculiarly adapted by previous employments to accurately and efficiently filling the position. Although he leads a very busy life and has a thousand and one duties, he has ever found time to devote some of his attention to the welfare and material progress of Cortland. He was one of those who promoted and constructed the first street railway in Cortland; has dealt extensively in real estate, building and selling considerably; and has served as a director of the National as well as of the Second National Bank. In Truxton he served as town clerk. He was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions of 1884 and 1888. He is a Mason of the Thirty-second Degree, and a member of Ziyara Temple of the Mystic Shrine.

Mr. Bushby married Mary A. Miller, daughter of William Miller, of this county, and town of Truxton. Three children have blessed their union: William J., who died when an infant; William T., agent for the U. S. Express Co., and city ticket agent of the D. L. & W. R. R., who married Miss Minnie H. Brownell, and has two children, Robert and Harriet; and Annie M., who married George H. Kennedy, and has one daughter, Mary Helen. Mr. Bushby and family reside in an elegant home on Main Street, which often becomes the scene of a social gathering, for Mr. and Mrs. Bushby like to entertain and be at home to their friends.